It’s the largest raptor in the world.

Wow, now that’s a big bird! That’s how most people react the first time they encounter a harpy eagle, whether in person or in a photograph. The magnificent bird is, well, enormous. Fierce. Proud. Majestic. Greater than life. With a steely gleam in its eyes that almost begs the question, “You’d better not mess with me, kiddo, I eat folks like you for breakfast.”

From one angle, the harpy eagle appears to be a person cosplaying a bird right out of the Uncanny Valley. From another angle, it appears to be a Pokemon (please tell me that you see it too). From a third angle, it appears to be something that was stored in a guarded cage someplace in Area 51 after crash-landing aboard an alien spacecraft on its way to Earth from Blargon-7.

The harpy eagle is a bird of prey that lives in the rainforest, and it is huge

Image credits: crg339

Photo: ST

Image credits: birds.nature

Image credits: animalplanet

These adorable birds are well-known on the internet. On Reddit, for example, one harpy eagle compilation photo received over 91,600 upvotes in less than 20 hours. In the same time period, the same image had over 120,000 views on Imgur.

Some people think that harpy eagles look like people wearing a bird costume

Image credits: leon_moore_nature_experience

 Image credits: DecorahPagent 

Image credits: Mitternacht90

Now, these rare birds aren’t to be taken lightly. They are, after all, birds of prey. There are two kinds of harpy eagles: the American and the Papuan types.

Harpy eagles look incredibly serious and goofy at the same time

Image credits: Bjørn Christian Tørrissen

Image credits: cuatrok77 

Image credits: cuatrok77

Harpy eagles are the largest, most powerful predatory birds to be found in rainforests around the globe. What’s more, they are among the very largest species of eagles on planet Earth. Their wingspan can reach up to 7 feet and 4 inches (224 centimeters), but the large animals weigh only 8.5-20 pounds (3.8-9 kilograms).

The bird has a very peculiar face

Image credits: cuatrok77

Image credits: Colin Hepburn

Image credits: The Next Gen Scientist

Harpy eagles are most commonly found in the upper canopy layer of tropical lowland forests. Unfortunately, because to habitat degradation, this magnificent animal is practically extinct in Central America. There are fewer than 50,000 of them left in the world. The harpy eagle is also called as the royal-hawk in Brazil, which may be even cooler.

The eagle’s talons are nothing to laugh at

Image credits: Judie Custer

Image credits: cuatrok77

According to Fact Zoo, harpy eagles eat larger prey than smaller birds: “Monkeys, tree porcupines, sloths, coatis, birds, snakes, lizards, etc.” We’re just glad that ‘people’ aren’t on the menu of this dangerously beautiful animal!

This is what people thought of the majestic bird!

Screenshot